#167: The Hidden Medicine of Romance Novels w/ Vanessa Couto

In this episode, Vanessa Couto shares her unexpected journey with romance novels and how they helped her with grief and burnout.We discussed the different layers of healing that this often dismissed genre brings to our own lives and the potential of healing the collective.Discover the different sub-genres of romance novels and what's compelling with each of them beyond the plot.You'll leave this episode wanting to pick up a romance novel of your own and experience healing with pleasure beyond the plot.Some recommended romance books:1) Emily Henry's Book Lovers2) S E Wendel's Halfing3) Callie Hart's QuicksilverFollow Vanessa:1) Website: vanessacouto.com2) IG: @vanessacouto.stories3) Substack: https://vanessacouto.substack.com/About Vanessa:Vanessa Couto guides people through life's thresholds using depth psychology, archetypal astrology, and the wisdom of story. A Professional Certified Coach (PCC) with an MA in Counseling Psychology from Pacifica Graduate Institute, she draws on decades of studying how myth and psyche illuminate transformation. Through her podcast Romancing the Threshold and her writing on liminality, she explores how we navigate life's passages with curiosity rather than certainty. Her practice emerged from her own journey through multiple thresholds and years of dedicated study in archetypal frameworks. Recently, she's discovered romance novels as unexpected medicine—finding in these dismissed stories precise maps for desire and sovereignty. She hosts For Your Pleasure, a book club excavating romance's archetypal patterns, and is launching intensive programs using the romance arc as transformational curriculum. Based in Portland, Oregon, Vanessa works with clients navigating their own crossings—those sensing something essential wants to emerge. Her approach honors both the psychological depth and cosmic timing of transformation, meeting each threshold as sacred passage rather than problem to solve. Her own understanding continues to deepen through lived experience, which means she meets clients as a fellow traveler, not someone claiming to have mapped every territory.==About the host:Michelle Wong, #BreathworkGuide, #CourageCatalyst #SpaceHolder is an initiator, visionary, and author of Set Your  Own Sail: Fire Your Alarm Clock and Awaken to What's Possible.  She mentors women to be unapologetically in full relationship with themselves. She uniquely blends breathwork, Human Design, intuition, self-care, and feminine leadership practices in her work with clients.Download your free: ⁠"I Am Supported" meditation HERE⁠.Let's Stay Connected!- Email updates: http://eepurl.com/dLB9qU- Substack: https://substack.com/@michellewongxo This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit michellewongxo.substack.com